SHSU mens basketball team gets 'Jack'ed by SFA on road

Kats It was almost a storybook ending for the Sam Houston State's men's Basketball team last night as they played Kats archrivals Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches. The Bearkats came back from a 16-point deficit in the second half to take the game into overtime but fell short as time ran out, losing to the Lumberjacks 67-66.

Four of the last five SHSU games have been decided in the last minutes of the game and more specifically, the last two were decided by one point as time expired. SHSU now sports a 2-4 conference record, and their schedule is not getting any softer.

The Bearkats were up against a defense that's ranked fifth in the nation for points allowed in a game. They are the only school in the nation that has not allowed 70 points in a single game.

The score at halftime was an average 25-23 with SFA leading. The Lumberjacks came out hot as they took a huge lead over the Bearkats early in the second half. But when the Bearkats started showing life with about ten minutes left in the game, SFA watched a comfortable 16-point lead but sliced down to as little as five.

Sam Houston's Konner Tucker scored six three pointers—two of them being shots that kept the Bearkats alive in both the second half and overtime—and scored 20 points total.

But SFA's Desmond Hayman could not be stopped down the stretch. He made three shots in a row in the second half—two out of the three were three pointers.

The Bearkats had many chances to take a lead in last night's game. Players Demarcus Gatlin, Darius Gatson, Marcus Jamesand Konner Tucker all scored in the double digits and made plays that made a victory possible for the Bearkats.

Defensively, Sam Houston's Antuan Bootle had seven rebounds.

In the second half Sam Houston was down by scores of five, four and two. Tucker then made a clutch three pointer with 13 seconds left on the clock sending the game into overtime.

Despite the heart-breaking loss, the Bearkats are getting closer to head coach Jason Hooten's goal of shooting 70 percent from the free throw line every game. The team made 17 of their 25 free throws equaling out to 68 percent. They also shot nearly 50 percent from the three-point line.

Sam Houston will travel to San Antonio next to play the University of Texas-San Antonio. The game will be on Saturday at 4 p.m.